Stateside: Dlectricity

Mark Schwartz is illuminating Detroit. An organizer of Dlectricity, a contemporary light art festival running Oct. 5-6 in Detroit, Schwartz helped create an event he hopes will engage and stimulate his audience.

Cynthia Canty recently spoke with Schwartz about Dlectricity’s function in both the City of Detroit and the art world at large.

“Part of it is art; part of it is the regeneration of Detroit,” said Schwartz. “I think this will be a way for people to really enjoy Detroit at night and start thinking of this city as a pedestrian village.”

The city’s buildings will be transformed into ephemeral exhibitions- a reinvention of public space Schwartz hopes will invite citizens to rethink the ways they look at Detroit.

But there is a question of accessibility that arises when one creates any work of art. For Schwartz and Dlectricity, accessibility is found in the emotional experience one has with a piece. “In order for art to have any meaning it has to have an emotional experience,” said Schwartz.

The artists, both international and local, are scheduled to be at their exhibitions to enhance this connection between audience and art.

Local artists will enjoy their share of attention throughout Dlectricity. Their growing presence in the city is something Schwartz views as beneficial and stimulating.

“It is a city that is welcoming creativity,” said Schwartz. “We’ve seen a tremendous change over the last six years in how artists come, view and experience Detroit. Up until two or three years ago they were really just coming to photograph ‘our ruins.’ Now, we see that our young artists are staying in Detroit to be part of the rebirth of Detroit.”

And it is this rebirth that Dlectricity celebrates in all its glowing glory, bringing Detroit to the forefront of the global art community.